A Steampunk war machine at rest? A Victorian perambulatory contraption chained up outside the gentleman’s club? Alas no – it’s a Bessemer Convertor, the revolutionary development in steel production that gained massive popularity in the mid 1800′s before being phased out in the mid 1900′s – so a good century of use. But oh – doesn’t it look like it should wander down the street, balancing precariously on the cobbles and unnerving the carriage horses as it stomps by!

For more photographs of these wonderful beasties:

Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust, National Recreation Trains photograph, one from Flikr, and finally, one of my favourites: Four Thirds Bessemer photograph. Thanks to Mr. Hildebrandt for alerting me to their existance.